Over the past several days, three separate-yet-interrelated scandals in the small town of Ihtiman have shed light on the presence of institutional racism and the systemic abuse of Romani communities in Bulgarian law enforcement. According to the police, on February 6th, officers attempted to stop a car and carry out a check.

A new amnesty law passed in Macedonia means there is a possibility for over 200 Romani prisoners to be released or have their prison penalty shortened.

On 15th January 2018 the Macedonia Parliament adopted a new law on amnesty that came into force on the 26th of January, four days ago. Proper application of this law would practically mean that about 260 Roma would be released from prison or the length of their prison sentences would be reduced by 30%.

"Roma are not a single, homogeneous category. We are women, men, children, Muslims, Christians, lesbians, gay men, straight people, some of us have disabilities. Antigypsyism interacts with misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia, and other ideologies of hate in complicated ways. We continue to fight injustice at all these intersections, and want courts to deliver judgments that take account of these complex and multiple forms of oppression against our people.”

This bi-weekly review opens on a tragic note. It was with great sadness we learned of the passing of the wonderful artist Damian Le Bas. We send our sincere condolences to his wife Delaine and his son Damian James Le Bas. Elsewhere in Europe we carry reports on race haters in Czechia and Slovakia, segregation in Bulgaria, controversy in Brussels, justice delivered in Ireland and Greece, and anti-gypsyism in Scotland.

While the European Commission takes stock of progress with the EU Roma Framework, the Czech President got low-down and racist about Roma to mark the 10th Anniversary of DH and others vs. the Czech Republic; outbreaks of hepatitis in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria served to remind us of how inclusion strategies are failing when it comes to health, and why access to clean water and sanitation for all is a matter of basic justice and dignity that needs to be sorted right across the EU.